1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to: a control method of using a controlling apparatus such as a personal computer so as to control an apparatus, which serves as a peripheral device, to be controlled by the controlling apparatus; an apparatus to be controlled using said method; and a control system provided with said apparatus, and in particular to a control method, an apparatus to be controlled, and a control system in accordance with an interface standard such as USB having a plug-and-play function.
2. Description of Related Art
An interface standard called USB (Universal Serial Bus) is widely used as one of control methods for connecting a controlling apparatus such as a personal computer to an apparatus, which serves as a peripheral device, to be controlled by the controlling apparatus, so as to control the apparatus to be controlled by the controlling apparatus.
The apparatus to be controlled compatible to the USB standard stores identification information such as manufacturer identification information (Vendor ID) and model identification information (Product ID).
Thus, when connection is established between a controlling apparatus and an apparatus to be controlled according to the USB standard, the controlling apparatus requests the apparatus to be controlled to transmit the identification information. In response to the request, the apparatus to be controlled transmits the stored identification information to the controlling apparatus.
On the basis of the identification information received from the apparatus to be controlled, the controlling apparatus specifies the type of the apparatus to be controlled, and automatically selects and installs peripheral device controlling software corresponding to the specified type of the apparatus to be controlled, so as to become ready to control the apparatus to be controlled.
The software to be installed may be downloaded from a server connected via a communications network, such as a Web server on the Internet (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-229751, for example).
The controlling apparatus compatible to the USB standard as mentioned above realizes the plug-and-play function whereby the control becomes ready automatically in correspondence to the change or addition of an apparatus to be controlled.
Further, in order to identify each apparatus to be controlled appropriately even when a plurality of apparatuses to be controlled of the same model having the same manufacturer identification information and model identification information are connected to a controlling apparatus, a control method is disclosed in which individual identification information is stored that allows the identification of the individual apparatuses to be controlled (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-144769, for example).
Furthermore, an electronic device has been proposed in which a diverse ID is transmitted to the outside depending on the mode switched by the operation at startup or the like, in order to change flexibly the purpose of communications or the function to be used (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-114861, for example).
The conventional control method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-144769 or the like adjusts appropriately to the change of the entirety of an apparatus to be controlled. The method, however, has the problem of incapability of adjusting to the situation that the connection between the controlling apparatus and the apparatus to be controlled is maintained intact, but a specification change is made such as new connection of an attached device to the apparatus to be controlled or a change in the firmware recorded in the apparatus to be controlled.
The electronic device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-114861 adjusts appropriately to the selecting or switching of the functions provided in advance. This device, however, has the same problem of incapability of adjusting to new connection of an attached device to the apparatus to be controlled or a specification change in the apparatus to be controlled.
When the connection of the attached device causes a change in the specification such as the performance and the function of the apparatus to be controlled, new information may be added to the manufacturer identification information and the model identification information. In this case, however, the controlling apparatus needs to acquire the added information along with the manufacturer identification information and the model identification information, so as to select appropriately peripheral device controlling software on the basis of the added information as well as the manufacturer identification information and the model identification information. This causes a complexity in the function, and hence results in the problems of an increase in the cost of the controlling apparatus and a limitation in the types of controlling apparatuses capable of being connected.